Visitors to outback areas of north Queensland only spend half as much as the average tourist in the Sunshine State … but it doesn’t mean they’re all tight-fisted!
A new survey has revealed that more than 58,000 visitors to the Gulf of Carpentaria spent $80 a day compared with $160 spent by visitors statewide.
The divergence is apparently explained by the fact that the Gulf is a camping destination … rather than it being a natural haven for penny-pinchers.
“People aren’t doing the free camping thing to save money, they’re doing it because they want a natural experience,” Rob McAlister, from Gulf Savannah Development, told the ABC. “They don’t want to sit in a caravan park surrounded by grey nomads with generators going.”
What’s that, Rob? We can hear you, you know!
So what do all these ‘grey-nomad-avoiding’ Gulf visitors want?
“They want to get out in the bush enjoy the bird life, the sense of the vast open spaces, the big blue sky, that sort of stuff,” said Mr McAlister. “Maybe we need to get away from just talking up the Gulf as a fishing destination.”
Mr McAlister told the ABC that Gulf tourism authorities should do more to promote the area’s fantastic wildlife, its Indigenous cultures, and talk about its fascinating history.
The visitor survey, compiled by Gulf Savannah Development and Savannah Way Limited, estimates tourism is worth $70 million to the Gulf region, making it the third most important industry behind grazing and mining.
Of the 1750 visitors who responded to the poll, 74% said they were “very satisfied” with their experience and would come back – one of the highest ratings in Australia.
Mr McAlister says respondents indicated they would embrace new tourism products such as bush camping or farmstays on cattle properties, day trips to Mornington Island and historical tours to old mine sites such as the Cumberland chimney at Georgetown.
The two towns that are apparently capturing the most dollars are Karumba and Mt Surprise which have a diverse range of things for tourists to spend money on. It seems that places like Georgetown and Burketown are not faring as well.
“Often there aren’t many tours running out of those towns, the range of accommodation is fairly limited,” Mr McAlister told the ABC. “They might go to the pub, get a meal and a beer, they might get a campsite for the night, but they’re not really spending any more money.”
Why do you love visiting the Gulf? Is it because it’s cheap … or because it’s peaceful and beautiful … or is it a bit of both? Comment below.
We went to Karumba point a couple of years ago and loved it. We mixed free camping with caravan parks. We also stopped at Winton for the first time and Mt Surprise. We plan to return, in fact when we retire we think Karumba point would be a great place to spend the winter. Barramundi and chips from Ashes, a bottle of wine, sitting on the sand watching the sun set over the gulf. Now thats living.